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KEY TO THE 




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'BOOK OF JOB,! 



-OR- 



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THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 
THROUGH THE LINE- 
AGE OF ESAU. 



BY 



A. M. STEWART, 
A Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



Copyrighted, i8gj, by the Author. 




NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING CO. PRESS 

317 North Fourteenth Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



WW 



^w*"* 98 ^ 







KEY ^O THE 



BOOK OF JOB, 



-OR- 



THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 
THROUGH THE LINE- 
AGE OF ESAU. 



BY 

A. M. STEWART, 
A Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



Copyrighted, /8<?j, by the Autiiur 





NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING CO. PRESS, 
317 North Fourteenth Street, St. Lords. Mo. 



ci^fv'**' 



V 






DEDICATION. 



TO THE 

"CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN," 

IS THIS BOOKLET DEDICATED. 



A. M. STEWART. 



ERRATA. 

Pg. 8, Ma lace for malice. Pg. 53- is in .third 
line for as. Pg. 60, Hamlets for haunts. Pg. 67, 
Heading for heeding. Pg. 68, esource for reason. 
Pg. 71, wise for wisely in 7th line. Pg. 79^ pointly 
for pointedly. Pg. S3, love for have. Pg. 87, re- 
ligion can't for religious cant. Pg. 88, semicolon 
after such in 25th line. Pg. 93* delight for slight. 



PREFACE. 

In asserting this book of Job to be an allegory it 
is not assumed that it is a fiction. It is a true nara- 
tive, written in Hebrew poetry, with names of 
characters and circumstances chosen by the Holy 
Spirit. It is at once an allegory and a true nara- 
tive, with such poetic and parabolic touches as one 
would expect to find in oriental writings of early 
times, and even of any time. If any one should 
question the possibility of a writing being both real 
and allegorical at the same time, let him see Ga 1 . 4: 
2 2-3 1 . There the unquestioned narative of Abiaham 
and Sarah and Hagar is made an allegory, and is so 
called by the scholarly and inspired Paul. The. 
reader will here see that I have the best of author- 
ity for my claim. 

One point, that of doing no violence to express 
teachings of the Word, has been guarded with great 
care. The reader will judge whether I have been 
successful. 

The rambling and desultory matter of the last 
chapter is intended to arouse thought about the de- 
fections of the church. All weaknesses and infirmi- 
ties must first be seen and thought of with diligence 
and earnestness before corrected. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

makes sad reflection fpr those who "love the walls 
of Zion." What can be done? The Spirit answers 
in Rev. 3: 18: ;c I counsel thee to buy of me gold 
tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich ; and white 
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the 
shame of thy nakedness do not appear ; and anoint 
thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see." 
This is the only ground of hope. The Church 
must know her poverty, and get up higher. "O 
Israel, .... get thee up into the high mountain." 
Job's experience should be the experience of the 
Church, and is the experience of every individual 
that has divorced the harlot pleasure, and has by 
faith stepped up into the higher mount, the mount 
of transfiguration. 

Though it is essential that the whole Church get the 
healing of the ' 'balm of Gilead, ' ' the work must begin 
with the individual. Every one that sees the necessity 
of the genera] healing must have his own sores 
treated first. This is the only legitimate beginning. 
Every one can do something towards healing the 
whole if he is himself healed. In fact he has 
already done something for he is part of the whole ; 
but he can do something still more far reaching. 
This presentation of Job is for the Church and for 
the individual ; or addressed to the Church through 
individuals with the hope that some may hear and 
heed the precious doctrines of the book, and tell 
to others. 

Here are a few reasons for taking the book to be 
an extended allegory. First, the nomenclature is 
strikingly suggestive of highly metaphorical lan- 
guage. Uz, inherent strength or power, gives the 
idea at once of the position of the self-confident 
man or woman, or the self-confident Church. Very 






INTRODUCTION. 7 

strong in his own strength. Job, one to whom God 
turns. God turns to the secularized Church. 
Eliphaz, my God is pure gold ; Bildad, child of 
strife or contention ; Zophar, a small, fliting bird ; 
Elihu, God is the one ; — all these names are some- 
what allegorical in their significations, which sug- 
gests the nature of the book. It may be answered 
that nearly all Bible names, in the most literal nar- 
atives, hint of some circumstance under which they 
were given, or suggest some quality or character- 
istic of the object receiving it. True, but the con- 
currence in significence here is exceptional. 

In the next place it is more susceptible of being 
thus considered than some admitted allegories of the 
Bible. The best reason, however, for treating it as an 
allegory, is the fact that we involve ourselves in in- 
extricable difficulties, following proper rules of exe- 
gesis, if we do not thus treat it. God's interview 
with the devil, for instance. If we take it in a literal 
sense this interview reflects on the wisdom and the 
goodness of God. God is too wise and too good 
to set the devil to worry and afflict one that is abso- 
lutely "perfect and upright.' ' All affliction from 
the Lord is for refining or correcting. '-He chas- 
tens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of 
his holiness." Heb. 12 :io. Had Job been abso- 
lutely "perfect and upright" he would have needed 
no chastening and surely God would not suffer such 
visitation as was not needed. Job needed chasten- 
ing. He was what would now be termed an hon- 
est, upright man, and he had a very high estimate 
of himself. In his own estimation, perhaps, he 
was indeed perfect. His various efforts to justify 
himself, and his allusions to his own deeds of love 
and his achievments of wisdom, lead us to 



5 INTRODUCTION. 

this conclusion. God, knowing his self-confi- 
dence and knowing how pride in his achiev- 
ments, wealth and social standing would hold him 
back from the power and the joys of the higher life, 
and from the greatest degree of usefulness, is spar- 
ing no means, no pains, to refine and lift him up. 
This view does not make Job the sport of a whim 
nor the victim of a devil's malace and cunning. 
Away with the idea that the God of unsearchable 
wisdom and boundless love would stoop to a com- 
pact with the devil to worry and harrass one of his 
own creatures merely to see what he would do ( ! ) 
Take it as part of the plan of an inspired allegorist, 
though he had real characters to deal with, and this 
interview is no longer puerile or beneath the dig- 
nity of our God. In this interview God must be 
understood as preparing a course of treatment for 
one that is sick and does not know it. Hos. 5:12- 
13. (Read all this chapter.) This is the condi- 
tion of the Church to-day. May she, like Job, be 
brought to know her sickness and to know her 
cure. As will be seen in subsequent pages, the teach- 
ings of this book are applicable to nearly all the 
wants of fallen man as well as to the Church in her 
general defection. It contains the whole plan of 
redemption, handed down through the line of Esau. 
Nothing is said about covenant, for the covenant 
was with Jacob, not with Esau. Though his cov- 
enant respecting the coming of Shiloh was with Ja- 
cob, God graciously unfolds the wonderful plan of 
salvation through Job, a descendant of Esau ; thus 
showing that though deprived of his birthright — the 
coming of Christ through his lineage — he would 
not be deprived of the benefits flowing from the 
coming of the Redeemer. 






KEY TO JOB. 

CHAPTER I. 

JOB AND HIS PROSPERITY. 

"In my prosperity I said, I shall never be 
moved/' Ps. 30:6. 

The first thing we learn of Job is the 
place of his residence. He lived in the 
land of Uz. Geographically we have great 
difficulty in locating this place. It is gen- 
erally believed to have been in Arabia 
Deserta. Some prefer to locate it else- 
where. Geographically it signifies very 
little where it is located; but it may signify 
much to us to be able to locate it spirit- 
ually and give its true metes and bounds. 
The etymology of the word will help us to do 
this. Strength and fertility is admitted 
to be the best signification of the original 
term. Literally, if we take it thus, Job 
lived where the soil was noted for its fer- 
tility and strength. Vegetation grew luxu- 
riantly and power and opulence distin- 
guished the people. Here this favored 
man lived and wielded boundless influence 



10 KEY TO JOB. 

among the inhabitants. Here God weighed 
him in the balances; here the devil found 
him, though he thought himself out of 
reach of his withering and blasting touch. 

Now, the reader can locate this land of 
Uz. Perhaps he recognizes it as a land in 
which he himself dwelt, or in which he 
dwells now — the land of self-generated 
power — where men rely on men and 
agencies and forces set in operation by 
men. The inhabitants of Uz did not have , 
to go beyond their own borders for any- 
thing. Job desired nothing his native land 
did not produce. To all the inhabitants it 
was a goodly land. They could, or would, 
see hothing beyond. "Milk and honey" 
might flow in regions beyond; they heard 
but cared not. Grapes of Eschol and corn 
and wine in higher regions, but they made 
no attraction for them. This is where ail 
the unconverted and most professors of 
Christianity dwell to-day. This is the 
habitation of the church now. Her aspira- 
tions seem to go only to the borders of Uz. 
Corn and wine, and milk and honey in 
abundance, but she does not want them, 
for they are in a higher country. 

Job, which signifies one to whom God 
turns, dwelt in this fertile but cursed land, 






HIS PHOSPERITY. II 

and some whom he represents live there 
yet. No sores nor boils nor discoveries of 
poverty and wretchedness will make them 
look further or higher. Here Job was 
called a " perfect and upright man" by 
the other inhabitants; and God, in the 
allegory, talking to a citizen of the land 
(Job 1:8), is represented as calling him "a 
perfect 'and upright man, fearing God and 
eschewing evil . ' ' According to the standard 
of the land, no doubt he was very correct 
and even perfect. His praise was heard 
on every hand, and he was pointed to as a 
man for the younger ones to imitate. He 
was pleased when he heard of this, and in 
his secret soul believed himself worthy of 
all. His riches and social standing, per- 
haps, lent him many virtues he did not 
possess. Many of his virtues were magni- 
fied by the same cause. Every thing to 
which he turned his hand seemed to pros- 
per. His flocks and herds increased with- 
out interruption, and his counsels were 
heard attentively in every assembly. He 
counselled according to their inclinations, 
perhaps, and so was always respected. He 
had seven sons and three daughters — ten 
children — a perfect number. As to the 
qualities of these children nothing is said 



12 KEY TO JOB. 

expressly, but their morals seem to be 
questionable. Chap. 1:5. Children, es- 
pecially spiritual sons and daughters, are 
not apt to be better than the parents. God 
conclusively proves to Job that he needed 
much to make him a perfect man accord- 
ing to the divine standard. 

Now the reader may understand that 
Job in this connection represents the 
church that is increased in goods and has 
need of nothing. Rev. 3:17. Also the 
congregation or individual believer that 
has stopped in the dangerous and treacher- 
ous land of Uz, a place of repose and con- 
fidence in the world. Truly here is a Job 
to whom God turns. He does not leave 
his church to her own strength, to boast in 
secular wealth and power for awhile and 
then die. He will save her as he did Job, 
if counsels, reproofs, afflictions, will bring 
her to see her condition and cause her to 
turn her eyes to upper regions. 

In temporal things the Church's pros- 
perity is well represented by Job's wealth 
and power. Her costly edifices and their 
elegant furnishing, and the costly array of 
those that worship in them together 
with the fat salaries of many that minister 
in them, bespeak for her great prosperity 



HIS PROSPERITY. I 3 

— prosperity and wealth which if turned 
into proper channels, would hasten the 
Millenial dawn. Some of the wealthiest 
men of all the lands are in the Church, 
and "kings of the earth do bring their 
glory and honor into it." Rev. 21:24. 
Notice here that the " nations that are 
saved shall walk in the light of it," 
and "that the kings of the earth," 
("kings of the earth" may mean worldly 
minded potentates and great men) only 
"bring their glory and honor into it." 
They do not necessarily "walk in the 
light" of the Church, Christ; but they 
bring their wealth into it. How many 
thousands have come into the churches 
using their wealth and glory and influence 
for the social advancement of some favorite 
organization, or to enrich and embellish 
some place of worship, while they, them- 
selves, walk not in the light. One puts in 
a costly window, another a richly carved 
book board, another rich and expensive 
carpets, vying with another congregation 
which will not be outstripped, calling forth 
greater expenditures; while there are wor- 
thy poor within a stone's throw of them 
that have no window, no book, no floor. 
If they were "walking in the light as He 



14 KEY TO JOB. 

is in the light," this wealth and prosperity 
in temporal things would be used as means 
to open windows in the souls of the be- 
nighted, and to furnish food for the mil- 
lions starving for the bread of life. True, 
the institutions of the church are often 
meagerly supported; still the wealth is in 
it. Convince a congregation that another 
rival congregation is stepping ahead in 
some external adornment, the eloquence, 
oratory, or learning of the pastor, then 
funds will be found. Appeals to the 
" pride of life" will develop her resources; 
and too often develops utter spiritual des- 
titution — Job's prosperity. 

"■His substance was seven thousand 
sheep, and three thousand camels, and 
five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hun- 
dred she asses and a very great house- 
hold." Job 1:3. The " very great house- 
hold" included servants and menials. He 
was independent. He wanted for noth- 
ing. He lived in luxury and ease. This 
enumeration of property signifies a per- 
fect equipment. The perfect number is 
employed. He was prepared, so far as 
wealth could prepare him, for any busi- 
ness or enterprise. So the Church, with 
respect to her temporal advantages, is pre- 



HIS PPOSPERITW 15 

pared to do any business for the Lord, 
She is prepared to raise her banner of love 
(Cant. 2:4) in every land and to push her 
conquests to all borders. She has seven 
thousand sheep and might have fourteen 
thousand; (Job. 42:12) she has her camels, 
oxen, asses for traversing the desert, for 
pulling to higher and more inviting fields, 
for bearing burdens, and servants that are 
willing to go. But she stays in the land 
of Uz when she should be threading her 
way up to the land of Canaan, where, in 
the strength of God, she could destroy the 
Hittite, Hivite, and the sons of Anak — the 
small and great forces of evil together. 

Prosperity misused clestroyes. "The 
prosperity of fools destroy them." 
Prov. 1:32. There is no necessity for 
prosperity reacting thus. Prosperity de- 
stroyed Babylon, Greece, Rome. It might 
have increased their glory, had they been 
wise. Job misused his first prosperity and 
God smote him. "The Church does not 
use her prosperity for God and the salva- 
tion of the world, for the overthrow of the 
mighty forces of evil in the world. What 
may we expect if she does not hear the 
voice of God? "I spake unto thee in thy 
prosperity; but, thou saidst, I will not 



1 6 KEY TO JOB. 

hear: this hath been thy manner from thy 
youth that thou obeyedst not my voice. 
The wind shall eat up all thy pastures and 
thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely 
then shalt thou be ashamed and con- 
founded for all thy wickedness." Jer. 22: 
2i, 22, O Job! rolling in ease, prosperity 
and splendor in the land of Uz, forget not 
that boils, sores and losses await " those 
that are at ease in Zion," 

o 



CHAPTER II. 

SACRIFICES OF JOB, 

"Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor 
your sacrifices sweet unto me." Jer. 6:20. 

In the preceding chapter, taking Job as 
a glass with which to see the Church more 
clearly, we saw riches and poverty, power 
and weakness, wisdom and folly, glory 
and shame, life and death, sitting side ,by 
side in the same character; one of each 
pair real, the other a phantom. A phantom 
of prosperity endeavoring to hide the hid- 
eous but real, visage of want. A phan- 
tom of life trying to conceal the horrid 
features of death. "Thou hast a name 



HIS SACRIFICES 1 7 

that thou livest and art dead." Rev. 3:1. 
While there are notable exceptions in 
some congregations and in many individ- 
ual Christian lives, this is the general con- 
dition of the chuich. What may be said 
in this and subsequent chapters have, like- 
wise, noble exceptions. These exceptions 
are rare, so rare that it is fearful to con- 
template. 

Now, through Job and other Scriptures, 
look at the offerings of the church. Job 
made offerings to the Lord and persuaded 
himself that he and his family, by 
them, were secure. Chap. 1:5, 29:18. 
Surely these offerings were lacking in 
some way, or the Lord would not have 
visited such judgments upon him. From 
Abel to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, 
from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to 
the last captivity, perfect offerings were 
accepted by the Lord. God will not, he 
cannot, make a single exception, however 
humble the offering or the person offering. 
He is God, his promises cannot fail, Mai. 
3:10. Man may fail in his sacrifice and 
in motive; but if the offering and the mo- 
tive are what God requires, God can not 
answer with affliction and loss. 

Some Jewish offerings were made with 



I 8 KEY TO JOB. 

a niggardly spirit. One would offer one- 
kid when he should have offered two* a 
lamb when he should have offered a sheep; 
a lean one when he should have offered a 
fat one; a lame or diseased one when it 
should have been sound and without blem- 
ish. Lev. 1:10. Not being all the Lord 
asked in both quantity and quality, it could 
not be accepted. Let our offerings be 
without blemish and of full quantity. Re- 
member Ananias and Saphira. 

Some sacrificed merely because the law 
required them to do so. This is tantamount 
to taxation. When the arm of the law or 
public opinion actuates one, there is no 
merit and no spiritual reward. Promises 
are annexed to freewill offerings, and to 
freewill offerings alone: that is, offerings 
prompted by love alone. John 14:23; 1 
John 5:3. If the law of a church or the 
opinions of men make the constraining 
force, there is no promise, no blessing. If 
a mere sense of duty is behind the offering 
no promise comes after it. This is a better 
motive, but not a good one. Every one 
offering unto the Lord, or unto the Lord's, 
should be able to say the "love of God 
constraineth me." 

One law for offerings required that the 



tttS SACRlFli It) 

sacrifice be made on the '"north side of the 
altar before the Lord." Lev. i.ii. Not 
on the south, east, or west side, exposed to 
the view of many; but on the north side 
"before the Lord/' Dear reader, on 
which side of the sacrificial altar do you 
present yourself? Do you take a southern 
position in the soft light of men's eyes? or 
do you take a position before the Lord, 
make your offering to the Lord, and ex- 
pect no sunshine but what flashes from his 
face? "Whatever you do, do heartily, as 
unto the Lord and not unto men.' ? 

Again, the blood of the animal offered 
was to be sprinkled round about upon the 
altar. Lev. 1:11. This prevented the 
bringing of animals that died of them- 
selves. The blood, the life, must be 
brought and offered to the Lord. No 
offering without life. 

This teaches us at least two things : 
First, no offering not sprinkled with the 
blood of Christ, the "Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world," is acceptable. 
Heb. 9:13-28. Secondly, it teaches that 
our offerings must have the best that can 
be in them. The offering must have vital- 
ity in it. God would have been indignant 
had one brought a lamb or kid without 



26 KEY TO JO£. 

blood — a carcass. Hoofs, horns, bones 
and carcasses, could be found where the 
flocks grazed, and brought in without loss 
to the owner. Such are many of our of- 
ferings. Hoofs and horns, dry bones and 
carcasses. The best part extracted and 
spent upon self, the rest turned over to 
God! The very life drained out for the 
world, and then we assume to be aston- 
ished because the Lord does not accept the 
dry and dead offering. God wants the 
carcass, the body, the form of bullock, 
sheep, pigeon, or young dove — according 
to what we are able to bring — but the 
blood — the life — the best of all must be 
brought, or all will be rejected. " Present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
able unto the Lord." Rom. 12:1. It is 
possible to present the body a dead sacri- 
fice. If one presents himself in the church, 
without love, faith and good works, his 
sacrifice is dead. It has not the blood — the 
life. 

How many lifeless sacrifices are dragged 
to the altar every Sabbath- day! How 
many of the dead sacrifices in professedly 
Christian homes! Sacrifices without life 
about the public altars, and so the churches 
are dead. The children and other inmates 






HIS SACRIFICES. 21 

of homes " dead in tresspasses and 
sins" because the sacrifices offered to the 
Lord in these homes are dead. Don't be 
astonished if your children are not saved. 
These dead sacrifices poisen the spiritual 
atmosphere in your homes as surely as 
many dead bodies in your home would the 
physical. Spiritual death will naturally 
ensue. 

Again, the animal had to be divided and 
the parts laid in order upon the altar. 
Then the " inward parts and the legs" 
were to be washed, when all would be 
consumed by fire. It was ver}^ important 
that this division be made and that the 
lower parts of the offering be washed. It 
is essential, it is indispensable yet. 

We must wisely distinguish between 
Christ's offering and ours. Together they 
make but one offering of a "sweet smell- 
ing savor" unto God; but we must be 
able to distinguish between the parts. If 
we do not we will minify the precious 
offering made by Christ, and magnify 
ours. Fatal mistake this. Job's mistake 
and the mistake of thousands. If we keep 
our eyes on our own, we virtually trust 
ourselves for life and salvation. "Not of 
works lest any man should boast," 



2 2 KEY TO JOB. 

On the other hand, we should not think 
our own so unimportant that we will not 
put them on the altar at all. Both are 
needed. The higher is made, the lower 
must be made. To get the special bene- 
fits of Christ's sacrifice, one puts his own 
on the altar along side of His. The for- 
mer sanctifies the latter. It is Christ's 
sacrifice that puts away sin and by which 
we have all things. Rom. 8: 32. Heb. 
9:26. But our offering must be made be- 
fore the benefits of His death in their full- 
ness can flow to us. 

What of the washing of the offering? 
Lev. 1:13. One part needed no washing, 
signifying Christ's; this needs no washing. 
u He offered himself without spot unto 
God." Heb. 9:14. But our offerings 
need to be washed, for "all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of God." 
"Lift up holy hands without wrath and 
doubting." The precious doctrine that 
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sin," is sadly, sadly abused. After 
bringing the offering to the altar for the 
sprinkling of the blood that purifies, many, 
presuming on this easy mode of cleansing, 
constantly polute themselves with sin. The 
offering was to be cleansed, washed and 



HIS SACRIFICES. 23 

then placed on the alter and taken off no 
more. Just for a moment fancy one, af- 
ter his offering was washed, throwing it 
about in dirt and filth, and as often 
having it washed and presenting it to the 
priest! The priest would call this trifling 
with sacred things, and would send him 
away unblessed and covered with shame. 
Our High Priest sends us away unblessed 
for the same reason. We need the wash- 
ing too often. Wash and " wallow in the 
mire," wash and wallow again and again. 
Sin and sin and sin, still claiming the 
blood of Christ in cleansing. This is a de- 
lusion. Let the offering be washed, then 
•placed on the altar to be removed no more 
forever. Then it will remain clean 
whether it be an offering of tongue, of 
hand, of purse, of life, or of the living 
sacrifice" of the body. 

Notice that this washing was not done 
by the priest in every instance. The 
priest sprinkled the blood, the one bring- 
ing the offering washed it. Our high 
priest sprinkles his own blood, but we 
have something to do with the cleansing, 
and keeping clean, whatever may be said 
to the contrary. "Cleanse your hands ye 
sinners, and purify your hearts ye double 



24 KEY TO JOB. 

minded. " James 4:8. "Keep himself un- 
spotted." 1:27. Though we are " kept by 
the power of God," "we must purify our 
hearts," "cleanse our hands" and "keep 
under our bodies." "We can do all 
things through Christ who strengthens." 
We do it, but in God's own power. "The 
Lord God is my strength." Hab. 3:19. 
Why is holiness, cleanness of heart, hands 
'and life, so repulsive to men and women 
now? "Be ye holy for I am holy." 
God's own words. "Lift up holy hands." 
Words of God by PauL Most churches 
want no holiness preached in their pulpits, 
and most ministers give them something 
more tasteful. Why? The answer is 
easy. Such preaching rebukes their car- 
nality and godlessness. 

The church needs no arguments on 
sanctification, but holiness unto the Lord. 
This is the best argument possible. All 
understand when they are told to "sanctify 
themselves" to "be holy." They rtia} 7 
misunderstand an argument on "inbred 
sin" and the "second work of grace," 
&c, &c; for these are not scriptural terms; 
but when they are told to "cleanse their 
hands and purify their hearts," they know 
they must take their hands off all forms of. 






HIS SACRIFICES. 2$ 

sin and "bring their thoughts into obe- 
dience to Christ." Offerings must be 
washed. 

Offerings, too, must be made in faith. 
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more 
excellent sacrifice than Cain." Heb. 11:4. 
Not a dead faith; a living faith. When we 
bring an offering we must see God in the 
sacrifice, on the altar and in all the results. 
No image but that of the glory of God 
must be seen in it. We must see, not self, 
not honor, not distinction, not gain, not 
human commendation, but God, heaven, 
and such things as flow from thence. 

Now, had Job's offerings been charac- 
terized by all these, God could not have 
visited him with calamities — could not 
have rejected him. Neither could he reject 
the sacrifices of the Church if they were 
thus characterized. God has promised and 
he must perform when we claim them in 
his own way. The sacrifices of our lips, 
hands, purses, bodies, must be accepted 
when offered in proper quality, quantity, 
properly divided and cleansed, and offered 
before the Lord and with a faith that 
penetrates within the veil. Then, and not 
till then, will the fires of love and the 
IIolyGhost kindle and burn upon the altar. 



2 6 KEY TO JOB. 

CHAPTER III. 

job's children. 

4i I will bereave them of children." Jer. 15:7. 

God never destroys children merely to 
try and harrass parents. He may remove 
them that parents may be brought to re- 
flection. He may destroy them if they 
are so incorrigibly bad that they will con- 
taminate and destroy others. When a 
bear came down and devoured forty chil- 
dren in answer to the imprecations of the 
prophet, it was not merely because they 
made sport at the expense of his bald 
head. A bald head does indeed need 
protection, but something besides a bald 
head must be involved before God inter- 
poses with bears and death. There must 
have been some necessity in the condition 
of things for their death, or for their re- 
moval. Without such necessity, no good 
man would have cursed them; and if he 
had been so sensitive about his naked pate 
as to be betrayed into such folly, surely 
God would not have responded in such 
terror. They were not killed to gratify 
the prophet; neither were Job's children 
destroyed but for good. 






HIS SACRIFICES. 27 

Job recognized the failings of his chil- 
dren, and made sacrifices for them. Chap. 
1:5. They could not have been model 
children. In the nature of things, there 
was a necessity for their removal. Job 
was wanting, his offerings, or sacrifices 
were wanting, and so his children were 
wanting; wanting in what goes to make 
desirable manhood and womanhood. 
Having been brought up in luxury and 
by indulgent parents^ having been granted 
every sweetmeat and plaything they asked 
for, or cried for, from infancy, and never 
having been thrown on their own re- 
sources, there can be little doubt that they 
were very whimsical, captious and effem- 
inate young men and women, — fit for 
nothing but evening parties, their beds of 
down and the grave. It was best that they 
die — best for their parent, for the herds 
and flocks which they neglected, and for 
themselves. In the highest sense, they 
were dead before the catastrophe that 
broke the parent's heart. His heartaches 
should have come before. If he had put 
on mourning and sackcloth and had made 
acceptable offerings earlier his children 
would have been saved. When he saw 
their weakness, their frivolity, and luxuri- 



28 KEY TO JOB. 

ous and useless lives; their inattention to 
business and wandering habits, then was 
the time for him to weep. The fearful 
fatalities would have been prevented. 

As we so easily read the character and 
state of the Church in the character and 
condition of Job, so, in his children whose 
frivolities and waywardness necessitated so 
much sacrifice on the part of the parent, 
we as easily read the character and moral 
and spiritual status^of the children, the 
converts of the parent Church. The adage 
that "like begets like," is here strikingly 
demonstrated. As a rule any failing or 
degeneracy in the parent is more marked 
in the offspring. If the parent scolds the 
child raves; if the parent drinks moder- 
ately, the child drinks habitually; if the 
parent cheats in business, the child steals; 
if, in prosperity, Job neglects God, his 
children forget him. If the Church loves 
pleasure "more than God," her children 
are likely to love pleasure altogether. 

Why do converts so soon forget their 
vows? Because their maternal parent 
neglects hers. Why do young converts 
think more of society and modish trifles 
and "outward adorning" than of the "in- 
ward adorning" of the soul and character? 



HIS SACRIFICES. 2g 

Because the Church has made serious con- 
cessions to the world, even to the wearing 
of some of the world's habiliments. Why 
are so many of her children "weak and 
sickly" and effeminate, unable to "endure 
strong meat," and so unable and indis- 
posed to work ? Surely because the mother 
is weak and spiritually sick, takes but little 
strong food and takes but little "exercise 
unto godliness." She wants smooth, easy 
utterances from the pulpit; soft food, — 
nothing that will disturb her conscience or 
her ease. The children, the converts, 
want something smoother still. A con- 
gregation of so-called Christians known to 
me, actually asked for the resignation of 
its pastor because he ventured to speak 
against cardplaying, parlor billiards and 
social drinking. Said it might "drive the 
young people from their Church." Other 
pastors in the town "were not so rigid." 
That congregation secured a pastor that 
talked eloquently about sins in the ab- 
stract, touched none of their sins spe- 
cifically, pleased the young people, and the 
old, lived an easy luxurious life, got mem- 
bers into his church, and preached them 
right on towards hell. It would be un- 
natural for such a mother, fed and trained 



30 KEY TO J6£. 

thus, to produce a strong, healthy off- 
spring. 

When Israel asked for smooth things to 
be spoken to her (Isa. 40:10), she knew 
not that she was asking for sickness and 
weakness for herself and famine and death 
for her children, Jer. 38:23. This is the 
sense in which the "iniquities of the fathers 
are visited upon the children, " even "to 
the third and fourth generations." What- 
ever is bad in the blood goes down to the 
children. The parent is weak, coarse, 
low, vulgar, sensual, proud, irritable, 
envious, malevolent, and all, in a stronger, 
broader and deeper measure is instilled 
into the children. This is true of the 
Church and of congregations. The in- 
firmities and sins of the parent, increasing 
in number and magnitude as they pass 
down to the fertile hearts of the offspring, 
destK)y them "without remedy." The 
Church need not wonder at the follies of 
her children. She draws near to God 
with her lips while her heart is far from 
Him; and her children wander far away. 
"O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how oft would 
I have gathered thy children together, as a 
hen doth gather her brood under her wings! 
but ye would not," Thus Christ speaks to- 






HIS SACRIFICE'S. Jt 

day to his Church. He wants to take her 
children under his wings, and save them 
from the evils now so threatening. But 
she "will not," Not her children will 
not, but she will not. This shows that 
she in some way, by a proper exercise of 
her will and her maternal care and au- 
thority, may get her children, all of them, 
under the sheltering wing of God. 

O Church of the living God, attend now 
to thy children. Do not gratify their 
whims, and pander to their perverted 
tastes in matters of theatres, balls, cards, 
parlor billiards, and all questionable 
amusements. Correct their vitiated tastes 
by first correcting thine own. Deny to 
thyself the Church festival , fair, and every- 
thing that looks to raising funds for the 
Church by making it a pleasant pastime. 
It "will increase unto more ungodliness" 
in thy children. Job's children were des- 
troyed while feasting. Correct extrava- 
gance and gaudiness in their apparel, and 
excesses in eating and drinking, by return- 
ing thyself to primitive simplicity and 
moderation. Weep now over the weak- 
ness and follies and wanderings of thy 
children, when thou hast wept over thine 
own, and thou wilt be saved the greater 



%2 kEY TO jor,. 

bitterness when thou seest them ovei 4 -*" 
thrown by winds and^ floods in their 
habitations on the sand. 

As to the number of Job's children no 
objection can be adduced. Ten is a hand- 
some number. According to theology a 
complete number — one of the perfect num- 
bers. The Church, too, in many localities 
and in some of her branches, boasts of 
great numbers; but, here the boasting 
should cease. 

More of this in a subsequent chapter. 



CHAPTER IV. 
job's wife. 

And she made him sleep upon her knees : and she 
called for a man, and she caused him to shave 

off the seven locks of his head ; and his 

strength went from him. Judg. 16:19. 

Very little is said of Job's wife, but no 
doubt she had more to do in giving shape 
to his life than any other one. Two ex- 
pressions, one from her own lips, "curse 
God and die," and one from Job, "you 
speak as one of the foolish women," speak 
volumes. In these her character flashes 
out clearty and unmistakably, and through 






HIS WIFE. 33 

that we discover the real cause of Job's 
calamities, and the first cause of what we 
discovered in the characters of the ten 
children. 

Whatever the feelings between husband 
and wife, the wife largely gives coloring 
and shape to the man's life. If a very 
tender love exists, her ability to give color- 
ing and shape to that life is almost limit- 
less; but the husband cannot avoid this 
result in some degree, even though no 
real affection exists. Though she be far 
above or far below him in strength of char- 
acter and intelligence, the fact remains the 
same; she limits or expands, darkens or 
brightens, destroys or builds in the life 
work of the husband. "A wise woman 
buildeth her house; but the foolish pluck- 
eth it down with her hands.'- Prov. 14:1. 
In the life work of nearly all the great and 
good, there has been a force behind the 
scenes which was wielded so unselfishly 
and so unostentatiously that even the keen 
eye of the biographer never lighted upon 
it; or, if discovered, was too sacred and 
refined for the most delicate and graphic 
touches of his pen. This force was con- 
cealed, perhaps, behind the smiles and 
tears, labors and cares, of a devoted and 



34 KEY TO JOB. 

faithful wife. On the other hand, when" 
we behold the wrecks on life's treacherous 
sea, could we look behind the wind that 
blew them upon the rock, or could we 
look beneath the swelling waters that 
stranded them, we would discover that a 
peevish, fretful, fault-finding, fashionable, 
extravagant, indolent, novel-reading, god- 
less, or foolish, wife was often the "real 
force that raised the storm or disturbed 
the waters. 

Job's wife was doubtless the cause of 
most of his troubles. She was proud, she 
was weak, she was godless, she was fool- 
ish. She could not brook poverty, scoff- 
ing, slights or jeers. To her mind death 
was better; at least the death of her hus- 
band was better than such distasteful 
things. 

Her name is not given, leaving us to 
name her frojn her character and works. 
In the treatment of this book as an alle- 
gory, Jezebel, signifying untouched, 
would be appropriate; as being untouched 
by the grace of God, she stands charged 
with the seduction of the Church from her 
marriage vows to her lawful husband, 
Jesus. Rev. 2:20; John 3:29, As she is a 
daughter of Carnal-mindedness^ she may 



HIS WIFE. 35 

be called Pleasure. Coming with a gentle 
tap at every door, and, when the door is 
ajar, putting in a beaming and radiant 
face, by her smiles and seductive voice, 
she makes the poor forget their poverty 
for a moment and the rich their gout and 
satiety. Though she carries but little in 
her hands, for she is really poor, she in- 
vites to a large gallery and points to en- 
chanting pictures painted on the canvass 
of futurity. Trees and flowers and lawns 
and streams of joy are seen in living 
colors as the eye follows her deft and agile 
finger, and listens to her beguiling and 
fascinating voice. Carefully does she con- 
ceal the thorns and briars, desert wastes, 
sere and gloomy forests of despair, bleak 
and snow-clad mountains, and dark and 
turbid streams of bitterness and sorrow 
and death, that lie in the background, put 
there by her own hand and the hand of 
eternal and immutable justice. In her 
hand she holds a wine glass filled to the 
brim with red, sparkling wine. With it 
she touches the lips of her deluded mil- 
lions. Their hearts are turned. They are 
intoxicated withher mixed wines of delight, 
and drink still more deeply. They revel 
in a few present and many anticipated 



36 KEY TO JOB. 

scenes of delight as she again pours her^ 
wine. Soon their heads are reclining on 
her lap, and she cuts off their locks of 
manly strength; then , haughtily and laugh- 
ingly, turns them over to the mercy of the 
Philistines, or quietly suggests that they 
"curse God and die." Oh! the millions 
of the sons and daughters of men, sons 
and daughters of the Church, too, that 
are sleeping and dozing on the lap of this 
Delilah! 

Even the church, though she was given 
Sampson-like strength, has heard the syren 
voice of pleasure — Delilah — has seen her 
lying smiles, has drunk of her delicious 
cup, and now lays her head upon her lap 
to sleep. Sleeping, one by one, her beau- 
tiful locks are cut away. Weak and help- 
less, she lies in the hands of her enemies, 
the Philistines. The Philistines of bad 
government, of corruption in business, the 
social evil, and that Goliath in the enemies' 
ranks, the liquor traffic — all these have 
their hands on the voluptuous and worldly 
church, circumscribing her power, throt- 
tling and binding her and putting hot irons 
in her eyes. Judg. 16:21. All this be- 
cause she left her " first love," and made 
an unnatural marriage with this Delilah. 



HIS WIFE. 37 

In his seven locks lay the strength of 
Sampson. In the seven graces, virtue, 
knowledge, temperance, patience, godli- 
ness, brotherly kindness, charity, in these 
as the outgrowth of faith, lies the strength 
of the Church to battle successfullv with 
the world, the flesh and the devil. 2 Pet. 

1:5-8. 

But, fc4 he that lacketh these things is 
blind (Sampson's eyes out), and can not 
see afar off, and has forgotten that he was 
purged from his old sins," 2 Pet. 1:9. 
Shorn of these graces the church or the 
Christian is as weak and blind as Sampson. 
With them the lion may be bearded (Judg, 
14:6), thongs and ropes may be broken 
(lb. i6:-4-T4), and Philistines slain with 
the jaw bone of an ass (Judg, 15:15); 
without them weakness, blindness and 
death, O Christians! O bride of Christ! 
thou hast consorted with Pleasure, and she 
has made thee to drink her wine; she has 
made thee sleep on her lap; she is cutting 
thy locks, thy lovely, strength-giving locks, 
the only proper adornment thou hast. She 
has already shorn many of thy children of 
every lock. They have been turned over 
to thine enemies to be bound and deprived 
of sight; they are "blind and can not see 



38 KEY TO JOB. 

afar off," and, counseled by thy unnatural 
consort, Pleasure, they "'curse God and 
die." Arouse thyself from thy fatal sleep 
before another lock is cut; awake "and 
strengthen the things that remain that are 
ready to perish." Rev. 3:2. Get up and 
"shake thyself" from thy drowsiness and 
save thyself and thy children. Break off 
that unlawful and unnatural alliance with 
the wicked woman that would lead thee 
on to "curse God," after thou hast been 
stripped of thy strength and glory. Re- 
member, thou art a bride thyself. It is 
unnatural for thee to seek a wife! Nothing 
but evil can result from such relation. 
Seek not the husband's apparel, nor his 
place. 

Spurn from thy presence every Delilah, 
every Jezebel, every -daughter of Carnal- 
mindedness, that would seek thy heart or 
thy hand. Adorn thyself in "robes with- 
out spot or wrinkle"; let thy seven natural 
locks adorn thy temple; take thy place 
close to thy husband's side, and his "ban- 
ner over you will be love," and he will 
take you on from "strength to strength." 

Jesus gave his life for the church. She 
ought to be true to him. All her beauty, 
all her strength, all her glory, came of his 






HIS WIFE 39 

conjugal care and love. u He gave him- 
self for it; that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it," &c. Eph. 5:25, 26, 27. In 
his very great love he calls to her, "Turn, 
O backsliding children, for I am married 
unto you." "Thou hast played the har- 
lot with many lovers; yet, return to me, 
saith the Lord." Jer. 3:1-14. "Even now 
he is ready to put his hand underneath her 
head and stay her with flagons." Cant. 

2: 5- 

But Job's wife has stolen away his 

heart. Delilah has robbed Sampson of 

his strength. 

o 

CHAPTER V. 

job's afflictions. 

"Man's pride bringeth him low." Prov. 29:23. 
c 'I was brought low." Ps. 116:6. 

How soon may riches and health and 
friends and dear ones depart, and leave us 
hungry and sick and friendless and hope- 
less, drifting down the stream of despair. 
Only a step between riches and want, be- 
tween hope and despair. Riches, friends, 
health, domestic felicity, power and glory, 
fly swiftly from this recently happy man 



40 KEY TO JOB. 

and leave him in the deepest sorrow and 
bitterness. In the deepest shadows, cov- 
ered with sackcloth and ashes, he mourns 
his losses and cries with pain, 

God desires to show him his true condi- 
tion and need of him. He makes him 
poor that he may make him richer with 
more substantial wealth. God took away 
domestic bliss, that he might give more 
permanent joys in a " house not made 
with hands," and which hands can not 
pluck down. " God wounded him from 
head to foot, that he might be healed, and 
healed indeed." Deut. 32:39. 

Nearly all persons and institutions, if 
not quite all, -must suffer reverses before 
they reach a permanently prosperous and 
growing condition. But few men have 
had no reverses in business. Few, if any, 
firms have had a smoothly and evenly 
growing career. Few institutions, secular 
or religious, have not been smitten, at 
some period of their history, with wounds 
that threatened their very existence. Only 
such as try merely to hold their own; 
such as are satisfied with their present 
condition and progress, and can not be 
made acquainted with high aspirations; 
only such as are willing to drag out a low, 



HIS AFFLICTIONS 4 1 

brief existence and then die — only such 
generally escape the throes and pangs of 
legitimate and healthy growth. We can 
hardly see why advancement cannot be 
made evenly and uninterruptedly from be- 
ginning to end of every career, but it' is 
not so. Trials come. What seem to be 
insuperable difficulties present themselves, 
calling forth all the energies of the being, 
demanding the closest introspection, and 
necessitating the discovery of the best 
sources of strength and help. When weak 
points are discovered and fortified and the 
best and most available means of success 
are discovered and drawn on, the necessity 
for trial is passed and the person or insti- 
tution passes into a stage of solid growth 
and grand development. 

Had Job at first seen himself as he 
really was, had seen God as he is, and 
had drawn on him as was his privilege, 
there would have been no necessity for his 
troubles. 

"Know thyself" is spoken to every in- 
telligent being and to those persons consti- 
tuting societies and institutions. " Know 
thy powers, know th}^ weaknesses" and 
thy own resources, and then "acquaint 
thyself with God." To know all this 



42 KEY TO JOB. 

David must be afflicted , Abraham must be 
tried, Israel must be scourged. Job must 
be smitten — the church has been and will 
be buffeted sorely. Man's authoritative 
voice within her walls, and the voice of 
" money changers of those "that sell 
doves," must be silenced, and the voice of 
the Master must be heard, though the 
backs of those defiling her be made to 
bleed with divine scourges, and though 
the land be made to stink with Egyptian 
plagues. 

Look at Job in his . afflictions and see 
the condition awaiting every self-satisfied 
Christian and the church that does not ad- 
vance to higher attainments in knowledge, 
power and fruitfulness. As God spared 
no means to bring this man to real pros- 
perity. He will spare none to raise us. 
Job sitting in the streets alone, wailing 
and moaning from morn to night, and at 
night making its darkness hideous with 
his howls of pain; his friends passing him 
by unnoticed, unrecognized, and hood- 
lums jeering and casting stones at him 
whom even they once reverenced; his 
house, once, only a few days ago, a centre 
of revelry and mirth, now silent and ten- 
antless but for the wicked and deceitful 



HIS AFFLICTIONS 43 

woman that had led him to sorrow, now 
despising and mocking; his children dead, 
and their former associates passing to and 
fro reminding him of their dear faces that 
had lost their smiles in the shades of death; 
his own body covered with loathsome, 
running sores which were draining away 
his very life, though we maybe sure every 
remedy and experiment was tried to bring 
even temporary relief — all this makes a 
picture at once most sad and revolting. 

Will the Church come to this? Has she 
come to this? In some of her branches it. 
is evident this is her condition now. Does 
she not sit alone? Her altars are forsaken 
by her own childern for the play house, 
dance, wine shops and theaters. Are her 
houses lonely and silent where the voice 
of joy and gladness should be heard? 
Many of them are, except when the sen- 
sationalist is invited by Jezebel, or De- 
lilah, or Pleasure, the mocking consort. 
Then her walls rin£ out with a gladness 
that is not pleasing to the Lord. 

Hear the pastors and people talk about 
getting folks to Church. They seem 
alarmed at the desolation of God's house. 
There is cause for alarm, but more cause 
for alarm do we see in Job's condition 



44 KEY TO JOB. 

than in the desolation of his house. His 
howls and lamentations, boils and running 
sores were sufficient to drive away all but 
those deeply in sympathy with him; and 
they sat on the ground with him for seven 
days." Job. 2:13. Were in no hurry to 
go into the desolate house. They recog- 
nized the fact that for Job's house to be in- 
habited ever again by desirable persons, 
Job himself must be cured. His offensive 
sores must be healed. He must be able 
to meet them at the door with a sound 
body and comely visage; and his fortunes 
must be restored so he could give them 
suitable entertainment, j 

Notwithstanding the many wise things 
said and being said about getting the masses 
to Church, and about filling the deserted 
houses of worship, the masses will not go 
to Church, and the vacant or partially va- 
cant, Churches will remain so, if the 
Church herself is not healed of her 
" wounds and bruises and putrifying sores." 
Isa. 1:1-7. The fact cannot be denied. 
Already do her wounds and her putrify- 
ing sores appear. Pride, display, preju- 
dice, selfishness, fraud, avarice, unholy 
rivalries, divisions and schisms, cover her 
with sores and in many localities render 



ELIPHAZ. 45 

her repulsive. When she is healed and 
her true prosperity is restored , then the 
question of getting the masses in contact 
with her will find an easy solution. It 
will be solved. May she as Job go down 
to the ground in deep humility, and may 
her friends remain with her in her humil- 
ity till she "knows herself" and her God 
as Job did at last. 

o 

CHAPTER VI. 

JOB'S FRIEND, ELIPHAZ, 

; *The commandment, which was ordained to life, I 
found to be unto death." Rom. 7:10. 

Job's condition in the preceding chapters 
may represent most forcibly the convicted 
sinner as well as the awakened and delin- 
quent church, or church member , or the 
church or professor, that needs an impulse 
towards a higher spiritual life. Strikingly, 
as was shown, do his afflictions typify the 
agony, the anguish, of the church con- 
victed of delinquencies and sins by getting 
better conceptions of herself and of God. 
Just as well does he typify the convicted 
sinner. His sores and losses, sense of 
poverty and destitution, his sense of lone- 



46 KEY TO JOB. 

liness and self-hatred, his days of mourn-" 
ing and sleepless nights, all these but 
faintly represent the state of the convicted 
sinner. In fact, the first attainments in 
Christianit} T , the second, and all, must be 
preceded by convictions, stirring convic- 
tions, of the necessity and of the means. 

If one is in a low religious state, he 
must pass through about the same experi- 
ences to rise that he passed through at 
first to get a knowledge of God. Ps. 51. 
Acts 9:1-20. 

Right here it should be said that, though 
in the main the experience of all is the 
same, by no means, are they the same in 
all particulars and details. Or, in other 
words, the way is the same for every one, 
but the emotions experienced in the way, 
may be different in degree, in depth, in 
duration, and possibly in kind. Even the 
contrition of one may not be so deep and 
poignant as contrition felt by another — all 
due, doubtlessly, to difference in tempera- 
ment or emotional natures. As a proof of 
all this, notice the quiet and almost instan- 
taneous conversion of the eunuch in the 
latter part of the 8th of Acts, and that of 
Paul in the former part of the 9th. The 
former is like the gentle flow of a little 



ELIPHAZ. 47 

stream into a deep and placid lake; the 
latter like the rushing, foaming waters of 
a cataract as they rumble down into the 
sea. 

The little life of the Etheopian noise- 
lessly, but joyfully, flows into the great 
life of Christ; but the strong, the sanguine, 
the stubborn, self-willed, spirit of Paul, 
was brought into the broad, deep, sweet 
sea of the Christ life by a terrible rush of 
dark and disturbed waters. Paul could 
not say the eunuch was not converted, the 
eunuch could not say that Paul was not. 

44 By their fruits ye shall know them.' r 
Thus they knew each other. Paul could 
not know the eunuch by his own experi- 
ence; the eunuch could not try Paul thus, 
but by his works. It is the same in the 
attainments of the higher life. We must 
look at the fruits and not at what they tell 
us the)' have experienced. 

However, the Bible shows us the way 
in which all must get into Christ and 
then to rise in Him. While some of our 
experiences are not necessarily the same, 
some things we must see with the same 
eye, we must hear with the same ear. We 
must all hear the voice of the Law, the 
voice of Repentance, the voice of Hope, 



48 KEY TO JOB. 

and at last the voice of Christ and the 
Holy Spirit. 

Job, who represents us in all of our 
strugglings into Christ and then upwards, 
heard all these voices before he was si- 
lenced to find rest, healing and increased 
and lasting prosperity. 

In the voice of Eliphaz he heard and we 
hear the voice of the Law. Unalloyed 
gold is the etymological meaning of the 
term Eliphaz. How strikingly, but fear- 
fully, does he in his very name represent 
the law. Unalloyed gold! It, the law, 
demands an unalloyed nature with unal- 
loyed obedience superadded. "God de- 
sires truth in the inward parts, Ps. 51:6. 
"Not the hearers of the law, but the doers 
of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2:13, 
"The man who doeth these things shall 
live by them." Rom. 10:5. Every utter- 
ance of the Law is a nugget of gold from 
the walls of the New Jerusalem, shaped 
and fashioned by the hand of the great 
King, showing us the material of which 
Heaven is made and w T hat we must be if 
we would abide there. "The law is holy, 
the commandment holy and just and 
good," and makes demands, imperative 
demands, according to its own pure nature. 



ELI^HAZ. 49 

What a high standard of goodness 
Eiiphaz held before Job, "Who ever per- 
ished being innocent," Job 4:7, How 
he tries to get him to see himself as he is! 
(Chap. 15:14.) " What is man that he 
should be clean." How he tries to bring 
him to a knowledge of God. Chap. 4:13- 
21. "A Spirit passed before me; the hair 
of my head stood up," etc. If thou re- 
turn to the Almighty thou shalt be built 
up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from 
thy tabernacle," Chap. 22:23. Just be- 
fore he said to him. "Now acquaint thy- 
self with him and be at peace." "Not 
'with me 7 and be at peace.' " "I am 
only a school master to bring thee to God, 
to Christ." Gal. 3: 24. "The Law was 
our school master to bring us to Christ." 

Now, the Law of God is our Eiiphaz, 
our school master, to acquaint us with our- 
selves and with God. It cannot save for 
"it is weak through the flesh." Rom. 8: 
3. Through Christ to the flesh it is po- 
tent; but out of Christ, directly to the flesh, 
it is impotent to save. It has a most im- 
portant work to do. Its work is indispen- 
sable. The schoolmaster is not the foun- 
tain of knowledge, but he may lead will- 
ing minds to it. Eiiphaz could not pre- 



So kj-v to jor». 

vent sad disasters falling upon his friend 
Job, though perhaps he often counseled 
him in his fancied prosperity. He could 
not remove his sack-cloth, heal his sores, 
give him fortune and friends when health, 
and all had been taken from him and he 
was prostrated on the ground; but, like a 
faithful schoolmaster, he could stay with 
him seven days, even seven days, and re- 
buke and chide and gently lead to Him 
who could do all this and much more. 
The law can not save us, cannot bind up 
our sores, cannot bring us the healing of 
Gilead, cannot give us the true riches; but 
it can lead us to " Christ, who is the end 
of the law for righteousness for every one 
that believeth," (Rom. 10:4.) and "who 
gives us all things to possess." 

If it should be inquired as to how the 
law acts as a school master in bringing into 
Christ and leading us upwards in Him, 
Paul will answer: "By the law is the 
knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20. By the 
law we are made acquainted with sin. We 
would not know covetousness, fraud, 
lying, profanity, to be contrary to God's 
will if his law did not point out and forbid 
them. Thus the law shows us ourselves, 
our sins and weaknesses and imperfections 



ELIPHA2. 5* 

while away from God, and in the same 
language shows us something of God's 
abhorrence of [sin and his perfections. 
Eliphaz, the Law^ of unalloyed purity, 
speaks to Job and through him to all that 
mourn and weep on account of failings 
and sin; but Job remains prone upon the 
ground a prey to putrid and cankering 
sores. In this condition must he remain, 
with these sores must he die in poverty and 
want, if no other friend comes, if no other 
voice is heard. But "thanks be to God" 
we may not listen to the voice of the Law 
till death ensues. Other voices speak with 
healing, life-giving words, but we must 
also hear the voice of Bilclad. 

Thus we see in what sense the Law. 
" ordained to life," is really unto death if 
taken alone. "Sin is not imputed w r here 
there is no law," The law comes to bring 
us to Christ; if we refuse to be drawn to 
Him it is death. The tendency of the law, 
or acquaintance with it,. is to kill our own 
self-confidence and self-trust. 



52 KEY TO JOB. 



CHAPTER VI L 



JOB'S TWO FRIENDS, BILDAD AND ZOPHAR. 

Godly sorrow worketh repentance. 2 Cor. 7:10. 
Hope defered maketh the heart sick. Prov. 
13:12. 

When Eliphaz had concluded his first 
speech, another friend lifted up his voice 
to alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted 
man. The name of this affectionate friend 
was Bildad, As his name indicates he 
could not within himself relieve,' though 
his presence and speech were essential. 
Putting his name into plain language it is 
child of strife or striving. The land 
from which he came was Shua, signifying 
a wail for help. Both names ominous, 
if there is anything in a name. " What's 
in a name?" Much to this poor man in 
these names. The clouds that had not 
been lifted or rifted by the words of the 
first friend, now seem to grow blacker and 
more threatening and togSflash with vivid 
lightning. Confusion and consternation 
seize him; evil forebodings haunt him; he 
would fly from himself, from light, from 



BILDAD AND ZOPHAR. S3 

God. "Thou renewest thy witnesses 
against me." "Thou huntest me as a 
fierce lion." "A land of darkness is dark- 
ness itself" spreads out its shadows before 
him and threatens to swallow him up. — 
Chap. 10, in reply to Bildad — 

It was nothing less than the voice of 
Repentance that plunged him deeper into 
sorrow — That produced this strife and 
wailing for help. How full of mean- 
ing the names, Bildad the Shuhite — faith- 
fully representing repentance and crying 
for help. Only those that have wept and 
mourned for their sins (James 4:9) can 
fully appreciate the work of Bildad, can 
know fully the feelings of Job when he 
had spoken. Bildad was a friend indeed 
to Job, Friendship may be manifested by 
increasing burdens, b}^ wounds, by bruises, 
by increasing the flow of tears, by driving 
one further into darkness. Friendship 
must be measured by motives and final re- 
sults. Measured by the immediate feel- 
ings produced, Bildad was a "miserable 
comforter." Measured by his work in 
bringing Job to a knowledge of God, his 
friendship could not be surpassed even by 
that of Jonathan for David, 

Repentance, too, has a most important 



54 KEY TO JOB. 

work to do in the salvation of man, and 
the Church, from sin. " Except ye re- 
pent ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 
13:3. The reason for the requirement is 
apparent. One must be sorry that he has 
sinned before he quits sinning, or before 
he seeks a remedy for sin. The one that 
is not really sorry for wrong doing will 
only be restrained from that wrong doing 
by fear of punishment. Remove this fear 
and the wrong will show itself immedi- 
ately. If sin, per se, is wept over, 
and not the results, one is by that re- 
pentance constrained to leave it; and if he 
finds no ability in himself to do so, he 
seeks the means by which he can escape 
it. If he is deeply sorry, his reformation 
is likely to be radical; if he is slightly sorry, 
slight, perhaps, will be the change follow- 
ing; slight will be the effort to find the 
best means for making a change. Here 
sorrow for sin is used for repentance. 
Strictly, there is a difference. Sorrow, 
godly sorrow, is back of repentance. It 
produces repentance. " Godly sorrow 
worketh repentance." 2 Cor. 7: 10. The 
best meaning of the word translated re- 
pentance is reformation. "Godly sor- 
row worketh reformation." " Unless 






BILDAD AND ZOPHAR. 55 

you reform you shall all likewise perish." 
Showing that re-formation of mind and 
life is the purpose of all teaching concern- 
ing repentance. wSorrow is the part of re- 
pentance felt; reformation, the part seen. 
Sorrow is the beginning, reformation the 
end. Sorrow is the whispering of Re- 
pentance in the inmost soul; reformation 
is the vociferous clamoring for mastery of 
right in thought, word and life. 

Beginning with the slightest stirrings of 
sorrow it may be, Repentance at last, 
struggles, clamors, and wrestles mightily 
with the members, appetites, passions, and 
even with thoughts. Pointing to Heaven 
and God with one hand and to hell and 
our own failings with the other, it prompts 
us to fierce warfare against our proclivities 
to evil. Lashed to action by its cutting 
words of rebuke and faithful presentation 
of God's perfections, we struggle and fail; 
we rise, we fall; we are in light, we are in 
darkness; we are bold, we are fearful; we 
try to step on the Rock, we sink deeper 
into the mire; we take hold of our thoughts 
and say, "they shall be brought into 
obedience to Christ;" they elude our grasp 
and are gone into wild, unholy revelry; 
we " would do good but evil is present." 



56 KEY TO JOB. 

"We find another law warring against the 
law of the mind and bringing us into 
obedience to the law of sin and death." 
Rom. 7:23. Time and space would fail 
in pointing out even the most striking an- 
alogies between the symbols and the things 
symboled in this allegory from life; yet the 
reader is called upon especially to note the 
concurrence of thought and even of lan- 
guage of Bilclad in the 25th chapter of 
Job and that of Paul in the 7th of Romans. 
Bildad: "How can man be just before 
God?" etc. Paul, struggling against sin 
in his own might: "O wretched man that 
I am! who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death?" — this death-dealing sin. 
Both Job and Paul, after being probed and 
broken and crushed and ground by re- 
pentance, and had been driven out of self 
and from all human helps and resources, at 
last found how "mortal man may be justi- 
fied before God," how to be "delivered 
from the bod}' of this death." "I thank 
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
Rom. 7:25. God, through Christ is the 
way. 

Surely then the office of repentance 
being to help us to find the true source of 
power over the "world, the flesh and the 



ZOPHAR. 57 

devil," we would not dispense with its ser- 
vice, though we be led through darkness 
and tears and fierce struggles andwailings 
for help. We will measure the kindness 
and friendship of Bildad, not by his incis- 
ive, blunt words; not by his rough touch; 
not by the strugglings and conflicts he 
leads through, not by the roughness of the 
way in which he leads, but by the One to 
whom he leads. We will kiss and praise 
the hand that leads to Him, to His fullness 
and power. 

ZOPHAR. 

Of the three friends that first came to 
Job, Zophar seems to have been the least 
important. The other two spoke three 
times each. He spoke but twice and each 
time after the others had spoken. He 
might have been just as wise, just as in- 
telligent, but more retiring and modest. 
He spoke plainly, but kindly and hopefully, 
but his voice was silenced at last and he is 
heard no more. His friendship for Job 
could not be doubted. He remained with 
him as long as the others did and gave 
him all the comfort he could. Spoke but 
twice, but to the point. 

His name, Zophar, signifying a small 



58 KEY TO JOB. 

bird, possibly a niek-name, would lead us 
to suppose him to be a small, dapper man, 
moving about with great activity as the lit- 
tle bird among the branches of the trees. 
Small enough for any niche, quick enough 
for any time and flying to all heights. 
"Thou shalt forget thy misery and remem- 
ber it as waters that pass away." Job 
1 1 :i6. These were hopeful words spoken 
to the wretched man, and certainly they 
found way to, and lodgement in, some 
niche in his mind. How soon do we for- 
get the waters that poured over the ground 
after the slush and mud are gone and the 
sun is shining on all around. Not leaving 
a trace of sorrow, the floods now rolling 
over Job's soul would soon pass and be 
remembered by him no more. In the 
bright light of the sun that would soon 
burst from behind the clouds, he would 
forget clouds and floods. The singing 
birds, -bright flowers — his own fields again 
in verdure and bloom and alive with low 
and bleat of his own cattle, all this would 
soon cause him to forget his present desti- 
tution and darkness. 

Truly Zophar's was the voice of Hope. 
So important is this factor in God's great 
plan to rescue men, that it is given a place 






ZOPHAR. 59 

in the rank of faith and charity [love] . I 
Cor. 13:13. More, we are said to be 
"saved by hope," Rom. 8:24. Not as a 
direct means or agent, but it saves as "an 
anchor," holding from being driven off 
by the billows of trouble, opposition and 
despair till 'we can seize the life line,' — 
till Jesus steps upon the waters and bids 
them cease to roll, 'Hope, an anchor to 
the soul sure and steadfast.' Heb. 6:19. 
Changing the figure, it saves, too, as a hel- 
met saves. "As an helmet the hope of sal- 
vation," I Thes. 5:8. As the helmet 
saved the warrior from death-dealing 
strokes, so hope protects us from strokes 
of disappointment, adversity and of doubt 
and skepticism. 

Again, as the sweet, feathered songster 
perches itself near and sings an inspiring 
lay to the lone, weary, discouraged, hun- 
gry, thirsty, home-sick traveler in the 
gloomy, dreary, dark depths of the forest, 
causing him to think of the green trees, the 
gardens, the fields, the home — the sweet 
home — which lie beyond the forest, so 
Hope speaks to us of the lovely city, the 
pastures of delight, the home and "rest 
that remains for the people of God," and 
its voice stirs us to new life and new activ- 



60 KEY TO JOB. 

ities and saves us from a death of despond- 
ency and inactivity. It quickens us into 
life and gives us invincible determination 
and energy. It stirs all the powers of the 
soul and bends them to the accomplish- 
ment of its purposes; while, at the same 
time, this bird from the woods of Naama, 
pleasantness, ( Naama Zophar's country) 
sings a song which gives quietude and 
patience. I Thes. 1:3. Indeed it flies to 
the highest heights, it hovers over the low- 
est depths, and finds its way to the least 
and humblest of earth and pours its strains 
into eager hearts. Its songs are heard by 
the poor, by the sick, by the dying. It 
sings in the green spring time, in the 
bright summer, in sere autumn, and the 
wildest and coldest blast of winter can not 
drive it from its bleakest and most barren 
hamlets. Come, sweet bird, in ouf spring 
time when prospects are lovely; come when 
summer streams and shades invite us to 
their loveliness; come w r hen autumn winds 
strip the forests and leave but little cheer, 
and thy warblings will be echoed in our 
souls; but, when the storms of winter come 
and moan and howl within and without, 
and drive away all other visitors from Naa- 
ma, then will we welcome thee sino-ino- of 



ZOPHAfc. 6l 

returning spring and summer and passing 
snows and storms. We may not catch 
every part of thy strain in spring time and 
summer, but will drink in all thy melody 
in autumn and winter. 

Zophar's voice was heard no more when 
he had spoken the second time, Eliphaz 
and Bildad spoke last in the ears of Job; 
but, no doubt, Zolphar, by his presence 
and cheer, spoke to his heart, yet feebly. 
Thus the Law and Repentance may hush 
the voice of Hope as the floods of contri- 
tion roll over the soul. That is, we reach 
a point where we can not entertain hope 
from a standpoint of human reasoning. 
Still the soul clings to it even against 
human reasoning. "We hope against 
hope." 

But why should Zophar speak again? 
Elihu appears on the scene and all must 
be silent while he speaks. Job is now ready 
to hear him and the others may be silent. 



62 KEY TO JOB. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

job's friend, elihu. 

"Neither is there Salvation in any other." Acts 
4: 12. 

All others must be silent, for one ap- 
pears on the scene who astonishes all, "for 
he speaks as one having authority," and 
all must hear him. His name, Elihu, in 
English, the chief One, expresses the 
regard in which he was held by Job, and 
by all who have seen his person or heard 
him speak. He was the One in wisdom, 
power, eloquence, knowledge, and ability 
to bring comfort to the disconsolate man. 
Eliphaz could show him what purity is; 
Bildad could show to him his badness of 
heart and failings of life; Zophar could 
keep hope alive in him for a time, but 
none could pour in the "oil and wine" of 
true consolation. None could put him on 
his feet. None could "deliver him from 
the body of that death." 

When the three ceased speaking Job 
was still "righteous in his own eyes." Job 
32:1. They had made him to look up to 
higher standards and had made him look 



KLiitr. b3 

within his own heart and behold himself; 
but he had only looked. He had not 
gone higher, he had not left his own 
righteousness. .When he looked into the 
face of Elihu and heard him speak, he 
clung to his own righteousness no longer. 
He said to the others, "Ye are miserable 
comforters;" (Job 16:1.) he did not an- 
swer Elihu thus. To the three he said, 
"How hast thou helped him that w r as with- 
out power? how savest thou the arm that 
has no strength?" Job 26:2. He did 
not answer the fourth friend thus. When 
this friend had spoken and had what he 
said confirmed by the voice of God, 
(Chaps. 32 to 41.) Job said, I abhor my- 
self and repent in dust and ashes," (Job 
42: 6.) then he dropped into the arms of 
God's special grace. He had felt the stir- 
rings of the first part of repentance, sor- 
row, now he hears Elihu and reformation 
begins. 

The thoughtful reader has already dis- 
covered in Elihu a type of Christ, the 
"Hoi}' One of Israel," the One that was 
"in the beginning with God," the One 
"that is God," the One "that stands as a 
Mediator between God and man," the 
One that "takes the things of God and re- 



64 KJEY TO JOB* 

veals them unto man," the One whose 
name is " Jesus because he saves his people 
from their sins." In him we discover the 
wonderful man that is a "covert from the 
tempest, rivers of water in a dry place and 
and the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
land." 

Christ is all of this and more for the 
tossed and troubled soul. Truly He is 
the One. The One who has "borne our 
sorrows and carried our grief." He has 
borne our "burdens on the tree." He is 
the One that served as scape goat to bear 
our sins away to the wilderness. He is 
the One that grappled death and extracted 
its sting; — "the sting of death is sin" — 
then rose from the mists and shadows of 
the grave bidding earth and heaven rejoice 
for he had "set the prisoners free." He 
is the One that "has come as a light to 
the world" bids men to walk no more in 
darkness; the One that now sits at the 
right hand of God to make intercessions for 
us — "Lord of lords and King of kings." 

Elihu came to Job from the land of Buz, 
which means contempt. So this great 
and glorious One came to men from re- 
gions of contempt. "He was despised and 
we esteemed him not;" (Isa. 53:3) "in 



KUHl . 65 

his humiliation his judgment was taken 
away.' 1 Acts 8:33. "Can any good 
come out of Nazareth?'' was contempt- 
iously asked by those who despised the 
humble home town of our meek and lowly 
Savior. Job's best friend came from Buz; 
our best Friend comes from the contempt- 
ible town Nazareth, and from the more 
despised parts of the valley of humiliation. 
Born in a manger among the staring and 
mooing cattle, and passing his boyhood 
days among the people of Nazareth. He 
presented himself to the world without rep- 
utation or prestige, offering to carry the bur- 
dens and bear the griefs of men. "The 
common people heard him gladly.'' All 
who listen to him will soon feel themselves 
among the very common. Job felt him- 
self to be a very common man when he 
heard the friend from Buz. The One 
from the valley of humiliation, if heard 
attentively, will take his whole audience as 
a "common herd,'' into the deepest humil- 
ity, and then he will lift them up to the 
heights from which he first came. 

He came from his Father's presence by 
the way of humiliation; now returning, he 
takes us the same route. He casts into 
darkness, then lifts up to light; He throws 



66 KEY TO JOB. 

us upon the ground, then sits us upon the" 
mountain; He leads us lower , lower, lower 
into the valley of humiliation, every part 
of which He himself has trodden, lower 
and low r er still, till we see as Job saw and 
speak as Job spake, — then He leads us out 
and up, higher and higher, till He sits us 
down on his own throne in the presence of 
his Father. Sorrow, then joy; tears then 
laughter; labor then rest; sores then heal- 
ing; poverty then riches; bereavement then 
restoration of all; abhorence of self and re- 
joicing in Him; humiliation then exalta- 
tion to heavenly places. 

One very important thing in this matter 
must not be overlooked. Even after Elihu 
had spoken, rebuking Job for justifying 
himself, and his three friends for not being- 
able to answer Job, God Himself must 
speak before Job lays his hand upon his 
mouth and yields. 

It is necessary f or Love, Repentance and 
Hope to come to the rescue of the fallen. 
All these have their work to do. Christ, 
too, has an indispensable work in the great 
plan. In conjunction with all the Holy 
Spirit works and speaks. He must work 
or all others may cease to work; he must 
speak or the speaking of all others is vain. 






i r.nir. 

Christ, the One called Wonderful, the 
man would speak in vain if the spirit had 
not been given to him without measure. 
John 3:34. Christ himself bears testimony 
to God's superiority to himself — to his 
humanity: "My Father is greater than I," 
God must be "all and in all." 

The office of the Holy Spirit will be 
better understood from the Scriptures than 
from the experiences of persons. Heading 
the conflicting experiences of persons that 
claim these experiences to be wrought by 
the Holy Spirit, many have been misled 
and confused coucerning its work. 

Much can be gathered from this alle- 
gorical narrative in the recovery of Job. 
God spoke in the beginning, "Whence 
comest thou?" (chap. 1:7.) Here God 
begins the wonderful plan for the destruc- 
tion of evil. Whence comest thou O de- 
stroyer of men ? then He puts his agents 
to work and He works through them and 
in them to the consummation, speaking at 
last personally to Job; thus showing Him- 
self "the first and the last, the beginning 
and the end." God started the plan of 
salvation and has never left it alone in the 
hands of flesh. Christ boie witness to 
this: "If- 1 go away I will send the Com- 



68 KEY TO JOB. 

forter." God confirmed what Elihu said. 
Hear Christ in John 15:26, "But when 
the Comforter is come * * * he shall 
testify of me;" that is it convinces the 
minds of men, when reason fails. Does 
not do away with resource, but helps reason. 

Another office of the Spirit is to quicken. 
"The Spirit quickeneth." John 6:63. It 
quickens the perceptions, the will, the 
judgment, and often the body. Rom. 8:11. 
God's, voice was a quickening power to 
both mind and body of Job. It guides 
into truth: "The Spirit * * * of truth 
shall guide you into all truth." John 
16:13. 

The Spirit is before the means setting 
them in operation; it accompanies the 
means quickening them and making them 
effective, and follows the means with com- 
fort and joy and light. 

"I was dumb. I opened not my mouth, 
because thou didst it." "The Lion of the 
tribe of Juda. * * * He hath pre- 
vailed to open the book, to loose the seals, 
to look thereon and to read." Job is con- 
vinced, Job is dumb, Job is saved. 



PROSPERITY RETURNED. 69 

CHAPTER IX. 

PROSPERITY RETURNED. 

In thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth 
and meekness and righteousness. Ps. 45:4. 

After all his afflictions and losses and 
mourning, Job for the first time tastes the 
sweets of real and legitimate prosperity. 
At last he enjoys a prosperity that does 
not puff him up. He works righteousness 
and gives God the credit. He looks no 
longer on his own goodness but on God's. 
He had seven thousand sheep at first, now 
he has fourteen thousand. The same in- 
crease is noticed in the number of his 
asses, oxen and camels. The first was by 
his own wisdom, prudence and good 
management; the latter was from the 
quickening of God. In this we see the 
difference, or part of the difference, be- 
tween man's prosperity and God's. While 
this is intended to show us how spiritual 
good is obtained, the Christian is entitled 
to temporal prosperity and it is attainable 
in the same way, by the same means, as 
spiritual; and in the same way it is re- 
tained. Temporal prosperity cannot be 



70 KEY TO JOB. 

full, neither can it endure, when reached 
by crooked or improper means, " Cursed 
shalt thou be in thy basket and in thy 
store." Deut. 28:17. 

That the Christian is entitled to temporal 
prosperity one will readily learn by con- 
sulting Him who gives us all things to en- 
joy; Matt. 19:29: "Every one that hath 
denied himself for my sake shall have a 
hundred fold and in the world to come life 
everlasting." But this needs no argu- 
ment. He who gives the greater can and 
will give the less. But this fact cannot be 
too strongly emphasized: legitimate tem- 
poral prosperity depends on the same laws, 
or means, that spiritual prosperity does,- — 
law, repentance, — where wrong has been 
practiced — hope, Christ, the Holy Spirit. 
The strict observrnce of the true laws of 
business, — repentance which includes both 
parts of this term, sorrow for wrongs done 
and quitting the wrongs; hope based on 
true faith; Christ's holy teachings to guide 
in all matters of veracity, honesty, integ- 
rity and proper use of money, and the 
Holy Spirit to quicken the mind and body 
to energy and watchfulness, — these will 
bring certain, legitimate and enduring suc- 
cess. The two kinds of prosperity experi- 



PROSPERITY RETURNED. 7 I 

enced by Job are the two known to the 
world to-day. The one is limited, the 
other full; the one is uncertain, the other 
sure; the one may be moved by storms 
and floods, the other is uninterrupted even 
by death itself, for even temporal pros- 
perity used wise has fruits for eternity. 

His prosperity was temporal and from 
it we may. learn much of secular things; 
but the principal lessons are spiritual. As 
it is God's plan to teach by types and 
shadows, metaphors and allegories, we 
must continue to look at spiritual things 
through this remarkable narrative if we 
would discover all the jewels of truth with 
which it is bestuded. We are near the 
end of the story. The author is aware 
that only a few analogies between the 
types and the typified have been touched. 
It would take many ponderous volumes to 
point out and amplify even the most 
striking ones. This little work is only 
designed as a key to unlock the outer door 
of this treasury of rich things. Many of 
the inner chambers are not unlocked, but 
their treasures cannot long remain hidden 
from the searching eye. Only a few more 
thoughts are submitted. 

As the writer believes that the greatest 



72 KEY TO JOB. 

need of our time is for the Church to take 
higher ground, to get awake and alive, to 
break her unholy alliance with the world 
and sin, and to clothe herself with white 
raiment and have her temples adorned 
with her own locks, giving her beauty and 
power, — as he is fully convinced of this, 
Job was presented at the begining as a 
faithful type of the Church, and of the 
congregation, in her unreal and fancied 
prosperity. If she would see Job in this 
light she might be brought speedily to 
real prosperity and power. Her children, 
convivial and pleasure-loving and pleasure- 
seeking children, and consequently, weak 
and imbecile and wandering, would be 
like herself "Strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might;" a pleasure to the 
mother and respected by the world. 

What a difference is there between Job's 
ten first children and the latter ten. He 
did not offer sacrifice for the latter. They 
were amiable and excellent. The daugh- 
ters were the fairest in the land. They 
had inheritance among the sons. (Job. 42.) 
They did not bring disgrace on his good 
name, but reflected credit on him in every 
circle. A joy and pleasure to him at 
home, an honor to him abroad. 






SUPPLEMENTARY. 73 

As is the Church so are her children, 
her converts. If the Church or congrega- 
tion of believers in Christ, will be warned 
and turned to Christ as he is turning to 
her, her children, too, will be strong and 
fair and lovely and will reflect credit and 
honor on her and will be "the joy of the 
whole earth." Like Job's sons and 
daughters, too, they will have an inher- 
itance, one that is '* incorruptible, unde- 
filed and which fadeth not away." O 
Zion, don't by your ease and luxuries and 
sins, rob your children of their inheritance. 

Job, also, stands for the individual to 
whom god turns, whether that individual 
is turned to the first time in conviction, or 
whether he needs renewing in the divine 
life or raising to a higher position in that 
life. Reader, God turns to you person- 
ally by his truth and Spirit, and if you 
will not be warned certain terrors await 
you. 

Again Job may represent the children 
of Israel as a nation. For the thoughtful, 
the pointing out of analogies would be 
useless. The self-confident, pharisaical, 
self-righteous, Jews ma)' readily be seen 
in Job when God first turned to him. In 
his afflictions and losses and poverty may 



74 KEY TO JOB. 

be seen their tribulations and reproaches, 
culminating in the, loss of their nationality; 
while in his restoration to honor, increased 
wealth and family ties and enjoyments, 
may be read as in the prophets, the final 
restoration of the Jews to national pros- 
perity and power. "The time to favor 
her, yea the set time is come." It is the 
opinion of the writer, based on both Scrip- 
ture and moral sequences, that the restora- 
tion of the Church to power and the 
restoration of the nationality of the Jews 
will be nearly simultaneous, the latter fol- 
lowing the former but little, and that in 
the relation of cause and effect. 

Lastly, Job may show us the world in 
its alienation and fancied security, and 
God's dealings with him the plan of its 
redemption. May we not hope that the 
whole world will be purified and bloom as 
Paradise ? 

Job stands here for either of these four 
or all of them; but the other characters 
represent the same agencies in every place. 
How can this be? Easy enough. In ev- 
ery case it is a mind, a soul, human 
nature dealt with, and that is ever the same 
and must have the same divine measures for 
its regeneration, sanctification or restora- 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 7 5 

tion. When God is working to raise a 
fallen or dead church to life and activity, 
and when he is working with His own 
peculiar people, the Jews, to restore them 
to faded national glory; and when he sets 
in operation a plan to restore Edenic glory 
to the world, he is working with human 
nature as much as when he deals with an 
individual man or woman. Hence He 
must employ the same plan in every case. 
For this reason the characters, Eliphaz, 
Bildad, Zophar and Elihu must be the 
same in every phase of the subject. 

One says, "It cannot be a complete 
presentation of the plan of salvation, for 
you have left faith entirely out." By no 
means. Job's reply to his wife and re- 
cognition of his friends and his final 
recognition of Elihu and the voice of the 
living God, show very strikingly the begin- 
ning and working of faith. If one will 
study it with care he will soon discover that 
taken in its allegorical sense most of the 
strong and beautiful threads of truth for 
the redemption of man are woven into it. 
All of its parts correspond with each other 
and are in perfect harmony with the other 
Scriptures, May this presentation incite 
at least a few to study it in connection 



76 KEY TO JOB. 

with other Scriptures and that with refer- 
ence to the great reforms needed in the 
Church , the world and the souls of men. 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 77 



CHAPTER X. 

SUPPLEMENTARY OBSERVATIONS . 

Throughout these pages the condition 
and welfare of the church has been pri- 
marily in view. If those constituting the 
Church did but realize that this is really 
the state of things among them, " having 
a form of godliness but denying the power 
thereof," they would not be long in dis- 
covering the remedy, for it is ever near. 
Why is it not realized? Why is the true 
condition of things not known? Mainly 
because it is not desirable knowledge. It 
would surely disturb somebody's repose. 
They prefer believing that all things are 
favorable and that the breezes of outward 
prosperity and delight will continue to 
blow till they reach the haven of eternal 
rest. They have a vague hope that these 
breezes are wafting them into the right 
harbor, and this vague hope is preferable 
to the certain knowledge that they are 
being driven to ruin and eternal wreck, 
though that knowledge would save them. 



•?8 kEY TO Jo£. 

But many do not know the true condi- 
tion of things because they have not been 
instructed properly from God's word. 
True, the)' might know, for the word itself 
is accessible; but they have made the great 
mistake of depending on a mercenary, 
time-serving ministry for instructions in 
godliness. The ministry is largely respon- 
sible for this lamentable worldliness of the 
Church. This is said with great charity. 
While many fail to warn the people from 
a love of popularity and a fear of adverse 
criticism, many there are, who take the 
point from the sword of truth, if they do 
not take away or explain away the truth 
itself, because their living would be en- 
dangered. Of course, this does not ex- 
cuse them. "One shall not live by bread 
alone." Yet it makes a better excuse 
than the former, for all must admit that 
the question of a livlihood is one of great 
magnitude among all classes who are de- 
pendent on their labor. Making an extreme 
case of it, if it comes to absolute starvation 
of the body or the starvation of the soul, 
the servant of God, ought to be able to de- 
cide readily which horn of the dilemma to 
take. It is certain starvation of the souls 
of both pastor and flock for the pastor to 






SUPfi.F.MKNrARY. 79 

fail to give wholesome spiritual food. But 
it will not come to this. We have abund- 
ant assurance that God will care for our 
present bodily wants. 

Some ministers have given as a reason 
for not speaking ppintly against the pop- 
ular sins of their flocks that they hope to 
w r in them gradually by merely letting them 
know their attitude , and by examples of 
godliness. This is plausible, and the 
motive surely commendable; but it does 
nqt comport with the Scripture method of 
dealing with sin, neither is it a natural 
method. Christ and the apostles, and the 
prophets before them never tolerated any 
kind of sin even for a time that they might 
get the people to hate or reject it. Foster 
a serpent in the house, because some of 
the children think it pretty, till they learn 
"gradually" to hate it? No, indeed. 
It will bite and poison them before they 
hate it. Kill or drive out the serpent or 
empty the house. Silence on the part of 
the preacher on any moral question, or 
touching that question slightly and deli- 
cately, or timidly, virtually puts his influ- 
ence on the wrong side. It impresses the 
thoughtful that either he disembles, or that 
it is a small matter, so small that they may 



8o kEV TO jofc. 

consult their own preferences, either of 
which impressions hinder the cause of 
truth and right — keeps alive and fosters the 
destroying serpent. 

To avoid severity and harshness one has 
only to act and speak iu the spirit of Christ, 
the spirit of love. One cannot be harsh 
when dealing in the spirit of Christ, and 
but few even of those whose sins are re- 
proved, will charge him with harshness 
and severity; for they soon discover that 
their sins, not themselves, are the objects 
of condemnation. 

Other reasons might be assigned for a 
"form of godliness without the power" in 
the Church, but these will suffice till it 
is believed that the form of godliness 
without power is a fact. A few simple 
desultory facts and incidents are here sub- 
joined corroborative of the assertions, re- 
peatedly made here that generally, the 
Church has only the form of godliness, little 
or no 'power. These are not isolated and 
rare cases in point, but representative, 
taken from an extensive experience and 
observation. These will be called small 
and insignificant things by all who do not 
wish to see the truth. By such things 






SUPPLEMENTARY. 8 1 

alone can we judge. Such things were 
not too small for Christ and the apostles to 
notice. 

To be just and fair one should begin 
with himself: The writer once kept his eye 
fixed on pulpit popularity. He was very 
anxious for all he said to be approved by 
his audience; so sin in the abstract was dis- 
cussed severely, but sins of which mem- 
bers of his audience were guilty were not 
mentioned particularly. When it suited 
his congregation to have a church festival 
or fair or raffling of cakes, or anything 
else usually resorted to in churches, to sup- 
plement or pay salary, he readily con- 
sented and assisted the good work (?) 
This is one way of celebrating the nuptials 
between the Church and the World, or 
Delilah. I shall attend such nuptials no 
more, neither will I send in my regrets, 
but my strongest denunciations of such 
proceeding. The Bible method of raising 
funds for the Church is to 'give as the Lord 
blesses.' Any deviation from this method 
is an effort to get some pleasure or gain 
or make some saving while raising funds 
for the Lord, and so becomes sin. Its ten- 
dency is to do away with God's plan, 

A congregation where I was a member 



82 KEY TO JOB. 

rejected a poor fallen woman claiming to" 
be converted, from membership on the 
ground that her presence would injure the 
church. Another congregation for whom 
I was conducting revival services, proposed 
the same thing for the same reason, but 
was prevented the commission of the great 
sin. 

A lady who stood high in her church, 
while working among inquirers in an after 
meeting, passed all about the fourteen 
year old daughter of a woman that had 
sinned, but never said a word to her about 
her soul . The girl wept as if her little 
heart would burst, but she received no 
personal attention. 

One, a fair example of Christianity in 
her elegant Church, left a pew because one 
of questionable character and inferior ap- 
parel entered it. Had the one possessed the 
Spirit shown by the Master at the well of 
Samaria, the other might have been saved 
that day. 

One said to me only a few days ago, 
"We must have our mission Churches so 
the poorly dressed and tipsy and drunken 
and poor will feel themselves more at 
home than in the elegant and richly deco- 
rated edifices up town. In fact the clean, 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 83 

refined and well dressed can not afford to 
be brought in contact with such." In or- 
der to such refined Christians (?) exhib- 
iting the power of their religion they need 
the process of refining experienced by 

job; 

Did Christ teach this? The Church is to 
lift up and save. It will do it if it is saved 
itself even at the risk of being reproached 
by the fastidious and critical. Congrega- 
tions entertaining such notions of religion, 
and most of them do, can hardly be 
called churches. More properly they are 
social clubs without a single characteristic 
of a Church. Christ is our pattern. He 
freely mingled with the heterogenous 
throng, all needing salvation alike, putting 
Himself, His royal self, down with the 
very lowest that He might lift them up. 
We must love 'His Spirit or we are none 
of His. 5 Rom. 8:9, 

Since beginning this work another min- 
ister is heard of who was asked by his 
club congregation to resign for speaking 
against card and billiard playing, dancing, 
wine drinking and theatres. He promptly 
resigned and the}' as promptly secured one 
that was not u so straight laced." They 
wine and dine him and pay him well. 



84 KEY TO JOB. 

A minister in this city said publicly only 
a few days ago that the Sunday closing- 
statute should not be construed literally as 
it is not practiced now to literally (!) close 
the saloons on Sunday. This delighted 
many that help pay his fat salary. Marty 
that hate the Church are willing to pay the 
salary of such a pastor , for he is prac- 
tically on the side of the saloon. No doubt 
some of his flock deal in liquor; making it 
necessary, from his standpoint, for him to 
propose a compromise. This one does not 
voice the sentiment of all, but this shows 
the spirit of compromise with evil existing 
in the pulpit. Before the return of real 
prosperity and power to the Church, an 
uncompromising ministry will be found in 
the pulpits and in every circle, of moral 
influence. 

A great thirst for social power and influ- 
ence is noticed in the ministry. In remote 
country places ministers have their eyes 
and hearts turned towards the pulpits of 
the more important towns and cities. In 
the large cities they have eyes on the 
wealthy, central pulpits. The spirit that 
Christ mentioned and reproved when in 
the flesh, a looking out for uppermost 
rooms, chief seats, distinguished greetings 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 85 

in the market places, and titles of dis- 
tinction (Matt. 23:6, 7), lives in the pulpit 
to the great detriment and dishonor of the 
Church. One minister , while I was at 
the head of a school that gave degrees ap- 
plied to me for an honorary degree, and 
actually lied to secure it. This spirit of 
vainglory and 'seeking honors, one of an- 
other,' will disappear before the day of 
power and honor from God. 

Time would fail to tell of the members 
professing to be Christians that lie and de- 
fraud and mislead in business matters. 
Without any exaggeration not one in fifty 
can be altogether relied on in business 
transactions. Before the day of power 
comes to the Church the fact of one being 
a Christian will be the best security for 
the payment of debts and the very best 
guarantee for the performance of every 
obligation. This -is not a visionary as- 
sertion. 

Petty jealousies between denominations 
and congregations and ministers appear in 
various and many ways. I have known 
ministers to throw their influence against 
work started by other ministers in the 
same town for no other reason than that 
they had failed themselves on the same 



86 KEY TO JOB. 

line. I know such unholy rivalries be- 
tween different congregations in the same 
neighborhood , that charity and good 
works are no part of the religious aspect 
of the neighborhood. Some seem anxious 
for the unconverted to be saved if they are 
saved in their favorite denomination. The 
presence of personal or sectarian jealousies 
evinces the absence of spiritual power. 

Here is a scene constantly repeated: D. 
was a rich man. He lived wickedly for 
many years, then was converted and at- 
tached himself to a church. The mem- 
bers, rich and poor alike, flocked around 
him with the warmest expressions of Chris- 
tian regard, and for many days and weeks 
he was the chief subject of discussion in 
Church circles. The papers referred to 
him pleasantly. L. lived in the same town, 
but was poor. He, too, got converted 
and joined the same congregation. They 
did not gather around him with streaming 
eyes and love-lit faces, as in the other case; 
but the poor man stood awhile in his 
patched coat and rusty shoes, and slowly 
passed out with but few words, if any, 
spoken to him after the service, James 
strongly condemns this spirit. It robs the 
Church of power to develop the Christ life 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 87 

in its converts. None will be surprised to 
learn that both these converts lived in their 
new joy but a short time. 

Ordinary church services are poorly at- 
tended in all the towns and cities. Clap- 
trap and sensational methods are resorted 
to in order to get the costly, commodious 
houses of worship filled. Members habit- 
ually absent themselves from the meetings 
of the church. These things do not only 
show a want of power, but are a fruitful 
source of spiritual weakness. 

In a circle of professed Christians, lev- 
ity and foolish talk are indulged, and all 
topics discussed, before Christ and his holy 
religion. 

Long faces and assumptions of piety, 
and religion can't appear during special 
services and revival seasons. 

Valuable and costly presents are made 
by members to rich friends and acquaint- 
ances, while trifles, if anything, are doled 
out to the poor, Prov, 22:16. 

With few exceptions religion and Christ 
are second ary considerations. 

Six hundred thousand inhabitants in this 
city. Forty thousand professed Christians, 
and it is estimated that one tenth of the 
forty thousand are consistent in their lives. 



88 KEV TO JOB. 

This estimate is too high, but is put this 
way to be safe. When we reflect that this 
is better than many towns and cities, this 
makes a fearful showing. Members spend 
hundreds of dollars in travel, at watering 
places, for costly apparel and equipages, — 
in pursuit of pleasure, where they spend 
dollars for the spread of the gospel and 
the relief of suffering. 

While visiting the destitute in a certain 
city where are many thousands professing 
to love Christ, I gathered the sad informa- 
tion that for eighteen months a minister 
had not presented himself in that squalid 
district. Sometimes they drove through 
in their phaetons, passing to more favored 
places, but did not stop there. Sickness 
and death, and that which is ten thousand 
times worse than death, made those poor 
creatures sadly in need of attention; but 
ministers and people were so engrossed 
with their lawn parties, card parties, church 
festivals, entertainments of various kinds, 
travel, pleasure, etc., that they really had 
no time for such destitute of Christ's spirit, 
they could hardly minister to the destitute. 
Such is common. I speak advisedly. 

Christian (?) parents are more inter- 
ested about their childrens' social standing 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 89 

and advancement than about their conver- 
sion and progress in Christianity. 

A craving for that which is chaffy and 
sensational in the pulpit, and the readi- 
ness with which the craving is gratified, 
mark weakness and [degeneracy in the 
Church. 

To the certain knowledge of the writer, 
gross sins are connived at and tolerated by 
professed Christians on account of the 
high social standing and paying ability of 
the guilty. Guilt then falls on the Church. 

Sin in the Church is excused and exten- 
uated on various pretexts. That men and 
women must sin constant^ of the weak- 
ness of our moral natures, is taught in 
nearly all the* pulpits; and the people 
readily receive the doctrine and daily re- 
duce it to practice. They will not admit 
that even Jesus in the soul keeps his peo- 
ple from sin, thus limiting the power of 
Christ who came to "save his people from 
their sins.'" Limit the power of Christ 
and the Church is weak indeed, for he is 
the only source of strength. 

The word holiness is hardly used in the 
pulpit, and when it is used it is with such 
qualifications as to put its attainment be- 
yond the hope of mortals. Instead of 



90 KEY TO JOB. 

holy living by Christs power being taught 
and insisted on without any qualifications, 
the teachings of Christ and the apostles on 
this great subject are made void. Prop- 
erly taught, Christians will be kept by the 
power of Christ in the soul, and by proper 
exercise of faith in that power, from sin, 
from lying, cheating, stealing, deceiving, 
malace, envy, jealousies, evil-speaking, 
impurity, excesses, in short, from "the lust 
of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the 
pride of life;" for all sins are embraced 
in this one Scripture text. Many, 
very many, make the whole Bible teach- 
ing of sanctification and holiness to con- 
sist in a "second work of grace" in the 
soul, while theLiFE remains as it was be- 
fore. The second work of grace should 
be sought with great diligence, likewise 
the third, fourth and "on from grace to 
grace;" but if it does not appear in the 
life and conversation, it is a delusion, and 
a fatal perversion of the truth. All this 
makes the machinery of the Church pow- 
erless as a means for combating evil. On 
the contrary does it not by such wresting 
of God's word abet the forces of evil? 

In many respects, however, the teach- 
ings of the pulpits are correct, and consen- 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 9 1 

taneous throughout Christendom, but they 
fail to have the force claimed for them in 
reforming the lives of the hearers or teach- 
ers. What Cicero said of the 
philosophers and moral teachers with 
whom he had met is applicable, with 
some bright exceptions, to the pulpit teach- 
ers of our time: "Do you think these 
things had any influence upon the men 
who thought and wrote and disputed 
about them! Who is there of all the teach- 
ers whose mind, life and morals, were con- 
formable to truth and logic? Who ever 
made his philosophy (teachings) the law 
and rule of his own life, and not a mere 
display of his wit and parts? Who observed 
his own instruction and lived 
obediently to his own injunctions? On 
the contrary, many of them were slaves to 
vile lusts, many to pride, many to covet- 
ousness." When the lives, thoughts and 
morals of Gospel teachers and Gospel 
hearers are conformed to the teachings of 
the Gospel, then, and not till then, is the 
power manifested in the Church, 

Many more evidences of a form of god- 
liness without the power exists in the 
Church, but these fire deemed sufficient in 
this connection, I am asked if these 



92 KEY TO JOft. 

observations are true in occasional and 
exceptional instances, or will they apply in 
a general way. If true in a few excep- 
tional instances there would be no cause 
for great alarm. It is alarming because 
this is almost universal. Some there are 
who "have not defiled their garments/' 
who walk with the Lord in w^hite. They 
deserve no honor, for they only do in a 
humble way what their Lord directs. 
"They are worthy" only through the 
blood of the Lamb and His power. By 
His blood they are cleansed and by His 
power they are kept. 

These, I have observed, are found in all 
the sects with which lam acquainted. One 
sect, however orthodox, cannot claim 
more of these white-robed ones than an- 
other can claim in proportion to number 
of communicants. Some clothed in white 
raiment, and many clothed in moral black 
are found in all sects, or denominations of 
Christians. This fact should not make us 
less careful about orthodoxy in creed, but 
it should make us very careful to discover 
purity of life and character wherever Christ 
is named and honored among men. In 
some way, at some tin*, all creeds must 
be corrected. Till then, "honor all men, 







SUPPLEMENTARY. 


93 


love 
God. 


the 

" ( 


brotherhood, 
I Pet. 2:17). 


[Christians] 


fear 



O that we all may soon come "in the 
unity of faith, and of the knowlege of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ: that we henceforth be no more 
children, tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine, by the 
delight of men and the cunning craftiness, 
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but, 
speaking the truth in love, may grow up 
into him in all things. ' r Eph. 4:13,14,15. 



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